Indians protest Win-E-Mac pep fest

ERSKINE (AP) -- Two national American Indian leaders joined a protest Thursday, calling for the resignations of top administrators and some teachers at Win-E-Mac High School, site of a March pep rally that the Indians say was racist.

During the pep fest, teachers dressed as stereotypical Indians and danced to a tom-tom beat. According to a civil rights complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education, the teachers who were dressed as Indians then cowered when another teacher dressed as a cowboy -- complete with ''six shooters'' -- told them to get back to the reservation.

The rally was held at the high school in Erskine to get students ready for a sectional basketball game against the Red Lake Warriors, a team from the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

After the pep fest, the complaint alleges two Indian students were assaulted by other students.

The protesters blamed the teachers for the assaults. Many said the teachers taught students how to hate during the pep fest.

Dennis Banks and Clyde Bellecourt of the American Indian Movement spoke at the protest rally held in front of the high school and attended by about 50 people. They called for the resignations of the involved teachers, Win-E-Mac High School Principal John Gevens and Superintendent Gail Sells.

Gevens and Sells were unavailable for comment Thursday.